Piles, wick drains and protests

CalTrans continues to push forward even as protesters slow down the effort. Friday protests at the north end of the Highway 101 bypass around Willits helped snarl Friday afternoon traffic. Monday morning two men chained themselves to the rigs brought in to install the wick drains.

Despite these efforts CalTrans is continuing to bring in materials and equipment to get the project construction going in earnest. The first pile was pounded into place by 10 a.m. Tuesday as protesters lined Hearst-Willits Road holding signs against the bypass. The project still plans to install six test piles in key areas along the route in the coming days, according to CalTrans spokesman Phil Frisbie.

Two wick drain "stitchers" began work Tuesday morning installing the 4 inch wide by 1/8 inch thick wick drains to a depth of about 80 feet. The drains are rolled around a spool similar to a ribbon mounted on the "stitcher." As the "stitcher" pushes the "ribbon" into the ground with a large metal wedge the "ribbon" is unrolls off the spool. Once the metal pusher reaches a depth of 80 feet, the operator pulls it out of the ground leaving the "ribbon" in place. The operator cuts the "ribbon" off at about two feet above the ground. The operator then drives the "stitcher" to a location about five feet away and the process begins again.

The two bypass protesters who chained themselves to the stitcher equipment Monday morning used specialized chains and sleeves to keep from being removed quickly. The California Highway Patrol requested assistance from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office to unhook the protesters. The deputy spoke with the two protesters and they agreed to unhook themselves peacefully. The protesters were cited and released in Willits. According to Naomi Wagner of Earth First! the deputy told the protesters the sheriff's resources were very limited due to an ongoing homicide investigation. This left only one deputy available to cope with the protest situation. The two protesters were sympathetic to the deputies request and voluntarily released themselves rather than divert the sheriff's resources from a serious case, says Wagner.

When the bypass was approved by the California Transportation Commission in March 2012, a series of "child" projects were also approved as part of the main project. These projects were the Sherwood Road interchange for $6.25 million, the Ryan Creek fish passage, the City of Willits relinquishment and the environmental mitigation. The money was "programmed" to be spent in future years. This means the projects have money reserved for them and will move forward unless there is a significant change in the project or estimate.

The Sherwood Road revision is expected to cost about $3.5 million to build with this money allocated in the 2015-2016 fiscal year. Project development and right of way acquisition is scheduled for the 2012-2013 fiscal year and the final design in the 2013-2014 timeframe.

At the May 2013 CTC meeting the Ryan Creek fish passage project was moved into future fiscal years to allow the work to coincide with other work in the area, according to a CalTrans spokesman at the meeting.

The Willits relinquishment work is scheduled for engineering in 2013-2014 but construction is not expected until 2015-2016 as the main project is completing.